VCs pump more capital into Web3 gaming

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Oct 16, 2024

Gaming Chronicles focuses on curating the latest web3 gaming news, every week.

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This newsletter is brought by Arbitrum, a gaming ecosystem with titles such as King of Destiny, Seraph, Pirate Nation, and Mighty Action Heroes.

The highlight of this week is the Lost Glitches’ participation in Steam Next Fest, which runs until the 21st of October.

TLDR :

Just yesterday Azra Games announced they raised $42.7M in a Series A led by Pantera, with participation from A16Z and NFX
- In May 2022, Azra raised $15M in a Seed round, and in February 2023 they raised another $10M, making their total funding $68.3M (trust, it “maths up”)
To refresh: Azra is building a mobile RPG named Legion Legends, aiming to be the “4th generation of mobile RPGs”
- A type of RPG that competes with PC and console, with open worlds, real-time battles, and an emphasis on PvE (monetization)
- The team, led by Mark Otera is well-experienced in building RPGs, having built 8 of them including Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes
The funds of this round will not only support the game, but also the expansion of Azra Labs’ R&D team focused on AI to accelerate content creation
From a Web3 perspective, Azra has taken more of a “flip-flopper approach”, being vague about whether they will launch a token for example
- In April this year, they did tease an upcoming P2A program, however, we haven’t seen them return to the topic

2 days ago Soneium announced the winners of the Soneium Spark Program
- The Program includes DeFi, Web3 Experiences (NFT, gaming, and social), and the Open Category. 32 projects out of 1700 applicants were chosen
- In the gaming category, there are:
  - Arcas Champions (team-based shooter), Derby Race (horse racing), Evermoon (MOBA), Flip Gacha (Gacha game), Hello Blockus (crypto payments infra for games), Legends of Venari (creature collector MMO), Moonray (multiplayer arena), PGA TOUR Rise (golf), Overtrip (shooter), and Spot Zero (ARPG)
  - 9 games and one infra-provider
The quality of this list isn’t super impressive I’d say, I expected more quality and higher-budget games to be interested in “building on Sony’s blockchain”
- Perhaps it is telling of the fragmentation of gaming L1s and L2s
- If I were to choose two picks I’d keep an eye on this list it is Flip Gacha (by the makers of BOGX) and Spot Zero

After introducing GOD VAULTS about 2 weeks ago, Infinigods now sheds more light on what they do and what’s coming
- Recap: GOD VAULTS (GVs) are NFTs that can be staked for $GOD rewards and “power” and can be leveled up to amplify both
- In the thread, it is explained that Valhalla Staking is a modular and gamified platform
  - By playing the game you can level them up to increase the reward output
    - Speculation: winning tournaments, competing on leaderboards, and reaching certain milestones influence this
  - GVs are ERC-721s and holders can stake their Infinipasses on top for additional rewards
Overall, it’s interesting to see Infinigods experimenting with pushing the boundaries of NFT utility
- Working on improving NFT<>game feedback loops and making the holder experience more interactive through a type of NFT LiveOps
  - Fableborne is another project I’d watch when it comes to pushing these boundaries